


Accommodations

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Developing Relationship, Friendship, M/M, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 09:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13499324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: All the ways in which Olivia notices Barba making room in his life for his lover.





	Accommodations

**Author's Note:**

> I have, like, eighteen thousand other things to be working on, but I've been watching some SVU 1.0 episodes and was reminded of how much I love Olivia, and I wanted to do something with her, so. This happened instead.
> 
> Thanks to AHF for the title suggestion!!
> 
> Usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

It started with a toothbrush.

“Rafa?” Olivia called, something sing-songy and almost gleeful in her tone as she strolled out of the bathroom in Barba’s apartment, a toothbrush in hand. “What’s this?”

Barba barely glanced up at her from his phone. “That’s a toothbrush, Liv, I would hope you’ve used one enough to recognize it.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it’s one of  _ two _ toothbrushes I just saw in your bathroom.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Anything you want to tell me?”

Barba met her gaze evenly. “I had an overnight guest. Since I’m not a monster, I generally let overnight guests use a toothbrush in the morning.” He made a face. “But I draw the line at letting anyone use  _ my _ toothbrush.”

“Ok,” Olivia said slowly, “but was this an overnight guest, or an overnight  _ guest _ ?”

For a moment, it looked like Barba might claim ignorance at what she was really asking, but he settled for rolling his eyes and huffing a sigh. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business, but if you  _ must _ know, it was the latter.” Olivia smirked and Barba shot her a look. “If you somehow think this is going to turn into a discussion of my love life, you are very mistaken.”

Olivia’s smirk widened. “Love life?” she repeated innocently.

“I thought ‘sex life’ might sound too crude,” Barba said dryly.

“Sure,” Olivia said, her smirk softening, just slightly. “Well, I’m happy for you, Rafa.”

Barba’s eyes narrowed as if he was trying to find any insincerity in her statement. “Thanks,” he said, his gaze dropping back to his phone, a clear sign that he considered it the end of the conversation. Olivia shook her head slightly, but then Barba glanced back up at her. “You should put that back in the bathroom,” he said casually.

Too casually.

“Your guest coming back tonight?” Olivia asked, surprised. “That sounds serious.”

“It’s not serious,” Barba scoffed. “Believe me, you’d know if it was serious.”

But as Olivia headed back to the bathroom to return the toothbrush, she paused and looked back at Barba, watching as he smiled at something on his phone. 

She had a feeling it was more serious than Barba was willing to admit.

* * *

 

Olivia almost didn’t notice it. The change was subtle, and anyone without a trained detective’s eye might have missed it entirely. But Olivia had spent a lot of time with Barba, and she knew him well — from every hair on his head all the way down to his feet.

Which was how Olivia noticed it in the first place.

“You’re staring at my feet,” Barba pointed out offhandedly, his feet propped up on the prosecution table in the courtroom as they went over trial prep for the next day.

Olivia tore her eyes away from his feet and made a face. “I wasn’t staring at your feet,” she protested, and when Barba just raised an eyebrow at her, elaborated, “I was staring at your socks.”

Barba frowned and looked down at his feet, his brow furrowed. “My socks?”

“They don’t match your tie.”

Barba’s brow furrowed even further. “They’re black,” he said, looking at Olivia like she had lost her mind. “Of course they match.”

“They match your suit,” Olivia countered. “But not your tie. And in fact, I haven’t seen you wear brightly colored and coordinating socks and ties in a while now.”

Barba gaped at her. “That is...a bizarrely specific thing to pick up, Lieutenant,” he said, and when Olivia just gave him a look, he held his hands up defensively. “But you’re correct. I needed to clear out some dresser space, and as it turns out, the one thing I had an overabundance of was socks, so I cut down on my collection.”

Olivia nodded slowly. “I get that,” she said, before adding, “So does that mean your overnight guest has a drawer now?” Barba blinked and looked surprised that she had put two and two together, and settled for shrugging and looking away. “Are you ready to admit it’s serious yet?”

“It’s a drawer,” Barba said impatiently, giving her a look. “And I had far too many socks anyway. Now, can we leave the topic of my footwear behind and actually be professionals and prep for this trial, or…?”

Though Olivia obediently dropped the topic, she couldn’t quite seem to drop her smile, and Barba just rolled his eyes as he picked up his pad of paper and returned to his notes.

* * *

 

The sound of muffled cursing came from Barba’s office, and Olivia poked her head in, frowning. Barba was standing on a stepstool and seemed to be trying to cram an armful of books onto an already-full shelf. “Rafa?” she asked.

Barba let out a startled noise and dropped the book in his hand. “Jesus Christ, Liv,” he huffed. “Knock or something, would you? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Olivia ignored him, instead picking up the book he had dropped. “Introduction to Civil Litigation?” she read out loud. “You switching careers on me?”

“Of course not,” Rafael scoffed, snatching the book back from her and shoving it on a shelf at random. “I’m just moving some books from my apartment to my office.”

“So now your mystery lover has a bookshelf in addition to a drawer?” Olivia asked, almost gleeful at the thought.

Barba gave her an exasperated look and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yes,” he said curtly. “And before you ask — yes, it’s serious.” He scowled at the book he had just put on the shelf and took it off again, searching for a better spot for it. “Serious enough that I’m letting him put his stupid, marked up textbooks on my shelf at home and taking my pristine copies to my office.”

Olivia wasn’t surprised by the gender of Barba’s mystery lover, but she did raise an eyebrow at a different detail from what he had just said. “You mean he has the same law textbooks,” she said slowly. “Meaning he’s another lawyer.” Her eyes narrowed. “Please tell me you’re not dating a defense attorney.”

“Credit me with having some semblance of taste,” Barba said, rolling his eyes. “Now, do you have any other questions, or is the interrogation over?”

“Just one more,” Olivia said. “How serious does it have to be before I get to meet him?”

Barba huffed a sigh. “When I start clearing out closet space for him,” he said sarcastically. 

“Yeah,” Olivia laughed. “Like that’ll ever happen.”

* * *

 

Not even three weeks later she ran into Barba in the lobby of his apartment building, his arms full of old suits. “Don’t you ever call before coming over?” Barba asked waspishly.

“Making a run to Goodwill?” Olivia asked cheerfully. “Maybe...cleaning out some closet space?” Barba glared at her and didn’t bother dignifying it with a response. “Fine, have it your way,” Olivia chuckled, holding the door to the building open for him. “I just hope I get to meet him at some point if he’s important enough to you to merit closet space.”

“Forlini’s,” Barba said, a little stiffly. “Seven o’clock tonight. If you really want to know so badly.”

“You mean it?” Olivia asked, surprised.

Something in Barba’s expression softened slightly. “Yes,” he said. “It’s past time.”

* * *

 

“He’s on his way,” Barba informed Olivia without preamble, dropping into the booth opposite her at Forlini’s. “He got stuck at work.”

He said that as if Olivia was personally responsible, and she just laughed and shook her head. “Well, you and I both know how that goes,” she said. She was about to add something else when she caught sight of Carisi heading across the bar toward them, a file folder in hand. “Carisi?” she asked, surprised. “Did we catch a case?”

“Uh, not quite,” he muttered, glancing at Barba, who shrugged.

“I hadn’t had a chance to tell her,” he said, a little apologetically.

“Tell me what?” Olivia asked, suspicious. Carisi hesitated and handed her the file, which she took from him and opened, curiosity getting the better of her. Her eyebrows raised when she saw what was inside. “Disclosure forms?” she asked. “Why…”

She trailed off, sudden realization sinking in, and she looked up from the file to gape at Barba and Carisi. “Oh.”

Carisi looked at her nervously before blurting, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Lieu, but—”

She held up a hand. “It’s Olivia,” she said. At Carisi’s blank look, she added, “We’re not at work, Sonny. I’m not here as your lieutenant, I’m here as his best friend.” She nodded toward Barba, who was watching this exchange carefully. “So call me Olivia.”

Carisi smiled tentatively. “Ok, Olivia.”

Olivia looked pointedly at the booth. “Are you going to sit down and join us?”

“Figured I’d get us some drinks first,” Carisi told her, with his usual easy grin, and nodded toward her glass of wine. “You want a refill?”

“Always,” Olivia said with a smile, and he nodded and hesitated for a moment, then bent and pressed a fleeting kiss to Barba’s temple before heading over to the bar.

Barba watched him go, a smile flitting across his face, then turned back to Olivia, his smile slipping slightly. “You seem...remarkably ok with this,” he said.

Olivia shrugged. “I’m not the one who has to date Carisi, so…” Barba laughed and shook his head, and Olivia smiled at him. “He clearly makes you happy,” she pointed out evenly. “And I’ve seen stranger couples make it work. Besides—” She shrugged and drained her glass of wine. “Only an idiot wouldn’t have noticed how you two looked at each other.”

“And you’re no idiot,” Barba supplied with a smile.

Olivia smirked. “Always good to hear you acknowledge it,” she said, her smirk softening into a genuine smile as she watched Carisi return with their drinks and Barba scooch over in the booth to make room for him.

Just like, she realized, taking a sip of the glass of wine Carisi had brought her, Barba had been making room for him all along.

* * *

 

“Spring cleaning?” Olivia asked, file in hand, and Barba looked up from where he was rearranging things on his desk.

“Just needed to clear a spot,” he said, a little distractedly, before saying satisfiedly, “There!” and setting a picture frame down decisively.

Olivia raised an eyebrow. “Have you been catching up on HGTV and decided to do some redecorating?”

“Very funny,” Barba said, looking up at her expectantly. “What have we got?”

“Serial date rapist at Hudson University,” Olivia said, handing the file over, and while Barba flipped through the file, Olivia picked the picture up and turned it around to look at it, unsurprised to see that it was a picture of Barba and Carisi, a selfie clearly taken by Sonny, given the angle.

Sonny was beaming at the camera, but Rafael was smiling up at Sonny, both of them sharing an expression like they were the luckiest men in the world to be standing there together.

Olivia couldn’t stop her own smile as she set the picture back down in its newly designated place on Barba’s desk. “Problem?” Barba asked, glancing from the picture to her.

“Not at all,” she said honestly, before adding, “It fits.”

Barba’s expression softened as he looked back at the picture. “It does,” he affirmed quietly, then looked back up at her, a smirk curving across his face. “Ready to go ruin a frat boy’s day?”

“Always,” Olivia said with a laugh. She hesitated. “I really am happy for you, Rafa.”

“Thanks,” Barba said genuinely. “I’m happy, too.”

“You’d have to be, to give up precious closet space for Carisi’s suits,” Olivia teased as they left his office together.

Barba laughed and shook his head. “Don’t remind me,” he said, mock-mournfully. “He’s just lucky that he’s worth it.”

“Yeah,” Olivia said, giving Barba a sideways look and a small smile, “he really is lucky.”


End file.
